N Korea threatens to scrap armistice accord

North Korea has threatened to scrap the armistice which ended the Korean War in 1953, citing US moves to impose sanctions for its nuclear test and tensions over South Korean-US exercises.

The threat comes amid reports from the United Nations that China and the United States have reached agreement on new measures to punish the North for last month's nuclear weapons test.

The North's military said it could launch a "precise" strike anytime, unrestrained by the armistice. It also warned it could mount a strike with atomic weapons to counter any US nuclear threat.

In a statement on official media yesterday, the military called the joint exercise a "most blatant" provocation and slammed a "vicious" scheme by the US and its allies to push for tougher United Nations sanctions.

The armistice that ended the 1950-53 war will be "completely" nullified from March 11, when the South Korean-US exercise gets into full swing in the South, the North said.

An annual exercise known as Foal Eagle began on March 1 and will run until April 30, involving more than 10,000 US troops along with a far greater number of South Korean personnel.

Separately, US and South Korean troops will stage a largely computer-simulated joint exercise called Key Resolve from March 11-21. The United States has had troops based in the South since the war, with a force currently numbering 28,500.

Pyongyang habitually denounces such drills as a provocative rehearsal for invasion but Seoul and Washington insist they are defensive in nature.

The North said it would cut off a military hotline in the truce village of Panmunjom, which straddles the heavily fortified border with South Korea.

The armistice was never followed by a peace treaty and the combatants in the Korean conflict have remained technically at war. The hotline has been used by North Korean and US officers to prevent accidental conflicts.

The North in the past has threatened to scrap the armistice at times of high tension.

Pyongyang said the February 12 nuclear test, its third and most powerful, was a response to tightened UN sanctions imposed after its long-range rocket launch last December.

But the underground blast brought strong international criticism, even from ally China.